Not at all. Zajac plays a more important position and is another top line forward. Losing two top liners in two years would be disastrous. Parise can be replaced from within by collective effort. Zajac, not so much. It's no surprise the Devils were an average regular season team last year and shot up late last season to the Cup with the return of Zajac

Not at all. Zajac plays a more important position and is another top line forward. Losing two top liners in two years would be disastrous. Parise can be replaced from within by collective effort. Zajac, not so much. It's no surprise the Devils were an average regular season team last year and shot up late last season to the Cup with the return of Zajac

+1Plus how do people not realize that Zajac is WAY more clutch than Parise. Seriously, if you look at the playoffs I can think of several instances were Zajac has come through in clutch situations. Parise on the other hand not so much. And I know for the majority of Zach's tenure here he was lights out in the shootout. But this past year whenever he could win the game he would miss. Zajac on the other hand, he always gets put in shootout when its in extra rounds and I really cant think of him missing any of them. Im sure he has missed 1 or 2 in extra rounds but I can only remember him coming up big in big games in the shootout.

Not at all. Zajac plays a more important position and is another top line forward. Losing two top liners in two years would be disastrous. Parise can be replaced from within by collective effort. Zajac, not so much. It's no surprise the Devils were an average regular season team last year and shot up late last season to the Cup with the return of Zajac

That's still very much to be determined. Wishful thinking almost. The Devils did pretty damn good with Zajac out almost the entire season. I don't think having Zajac gone cost the Devils more than a couple of wins.

I will agree that losing both Parise and Zajac would be disastrous.

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"The Stanley Cup has fallen from the Stars. The new millennium has its first Stanley Cup Champion, and it's the New Jersey Devils." Mike Miller calling the Devils winning the Stanley Cup.

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i just find that people are trying to convince themselves that Zach was not that good or that we don't need him. But deep inside we all know we lost a big piece... he was the heart of the team, probably the best in the league to score off deflections and around the net and he was a top player.

Zajac is really good and underated but come on now lol it's a case of overestimating/hyping your own team and devaluating whats not. Its typical but you know. No other fanbase would have been saying all season long "Can wait for july 1st to snag Zajac !"

i just find that people are trying to convince themselves that Zach was not that good or that we don't need him. But deep inside we all know we lost a big piece... he was the heart of the team, probably the best in the league to score off deflections and around the net and he was a top player.

Zajac is really good and underated but come on now lol it's a case of overestimating/hyping your own team and devaluating whats not. Its typical but you know. No other fanbase would have been saying all season long "Can wait for july 1st to snag Zajac !"

Because fanbases have no idea about players on other teams besides the stars. It's very easy to look at someone like Zajac and think that he's not very good, but when healthy he's one of the top defensive centers in the league.

I'd rather have Zajac on this deal than Parise on his deal and I'm not even factoring in the cap recapture thing that's going to happen to Parise at the end of that deal. I forget what it's claimed the Devils offered Parise, but I'd still rather have Zajac on this one than Parise on that one. And while you might say 'they could have both', well the idea of 3 people signed until 2020 is pretty terrifying to me.

i just find that people are trying to convince themselves that Zach was not that good or that we don't need him. But deep inside we all know we lost a big piece... he was the heart of the team, probably the best in the league to score off deflections and around the net and he was a top player.

Zajac is really good and underated but come on now lol it's a case of overestimating/hyping your own team and devaluating whats not. Its typical but you know. No other fanbase would have been saying all season long "Can wait for july 1st to snag Zajac !"

Teams like Toronto/whoever else that has a center problem would kill for someone like Zajac even if their dumb fans don't realize how good he is. If Parise just puts up the numbers he did last year, Zajac can easily be just as good

Parise's better, but not w/ that ridiculous joke of a contract when he could easily fall off the cliff. Look how much he's declined since just 09

oh well that i agree. Im pretty sure we dodged a bullet there cause Zach HAS TO BE on his game to produce and his body won't be able to keep up that constant beating for too long. Kovy can play horrible all game but score 2 goals with a one timer from anywhere and he's a beast.

oh well that i agree. Im pretty sure we dodged a bullet there cause Zach HAS TO BE on his game to produce and his body won't be able to keep up that constant beating for too long. Kovy can play horrible all game but score 2 goals with a one timer from anywhere and he's a beast.

Kovy does have a hell of a shot, but I don't even he can manage 2 goals with a one-timer. Maybe two goals on two one-timers. But two goals with one one-timer? That be craaaaaaaazy!

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THE NHL MUST LOVE THE DEVILS - from who else? A RANGER fan![Mark Messier]: A big, bald attention whore with a stupid Easter Island-lookin face. - from who else? DaneykoIsGod!

Even when Marty comes back maybe Larry should put Clemmensen to be on the goal during the shootouts.Can the coach do that ? Switch the goalies 5 seconds to go in overtime? - Most priceless quote ever posted on a message board.

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It's easy to support a great player when he's playing at his very best. It takes a true fan to support that same player during those rare moments and stretches when he's not. Babe Ruth went 0-4 some games, and sometimes Wayne Gretzky was held pointless. There may be such a thing as greatness, but no such thing as absolute perfection every single night.

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We'll never truly knows what goes on behind the scenes with Lou, especially because he's as secretive as it gets, but I don't think it's as simple as you make it out to be, that it would've been so easy for Lou to re-sign these guys earlier. Those guys all knew big money awaited them once they hit UFA. They also know that Lou is usually not one to dole out insane mega-deals (though Kovy was clearly the major exception to that rule, and Elias' deal was up there for the time).

I'm not sure exactly what happened with Parise...I have no idea how close they were before talks broke down (before the start of last season). I do know that 13 years and $98 million for him is silly. I liked Parise a lot (what Devil fan didn't?), but with the type of game he plays and his size, can't help but wonder how long he'll hold up. I don't like those insane long-term deals as it is (including Kovy's), but I probably would've been comfortable giving Zach 7 years, tops.

Yeah the main weird thing about Parise was that when he signed the one-year deal the previous year, he said "with the intention of signing a long-term deal" the next offseason. I honestly didn't believe at any point that he would leave the Devils. He's an interesting case, because he didn't even really sound like he wanted to leave the Devils, so much as he just really saw a lot of positives in both NJ and Minnesota. I don't blame that on Lou. I just think that if Lou had simply capitalized on the chance to sign Zach when he said he wanted to sign a long-term deal, and actually signed him to that instead of a one-year contract, he'd still be a Devil.

Yeah the main weird thing about Parise was that when he signed the one-year deal the previous year, he said "with the intention of signing a long-term deal" the next offseason. I honestly didn't believe at any point that he would leave the Devils. He's an interesting case, because he didn't even really sound like he wanted to leave the Devils, so much as he just really saw a lot of positives in both NJ and Minnesota. I don't blame that on Lou. I just think that if Lou had simply capitalized on the chance to sign Zach when he said he wanted to sign a long-term deal, and actually signed him to that instead of a one-year contract, he'd still be a Devil.

yeah well even more when the player itself says in an interview about UFA's that if you're a few months away from free agency, why not just wait and see whats out there?

Lou fvcked that up, theres not a single doubt in my mind. You cannot wait last minute to try to re-sign your captain knowing what he could get on the market.

yeah well even more when the player itself says in an interview about UFA's that if you're a few months away from free agency, why not just wait and see whats out there?

Lou fvcked that up, theres not a single doubt in my mind. You cannot wait last minute to try to re-sign your captain knowing what he could get on the market.

What really threw a monkey wrench into everything was Zach getting hurt in '10-'11. That likely made Lou a bit more cautious, though the sides clearly did talk for a while before Zach signed his one-year deal. The funny thing is, with the start Zach had gotten off to last season (it was slow), some of the same people who are ripping Lou for not re-signing him probably would've been ripping him for bringing him back for big dollars without seeing if he was physically sound, or at least capable of performing like the old Zach. The timing was a bit of a mess.

Of course, the fact that Zajac was signed to an 8-year deal, despite playing just 15 regular-season games last season, kind of negates the above. I think a lot more happened behind the scenes than we'll ever know with Zach. And I think tampering happens quite a bit in the NHL, and probably happened in Zach's case, though I'm sure it will be difficult to impossible to prove.

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THE NHL MUST LOVE THE DEVILS - from who else? A RANGER fan![Mark Messier]: A big, bald attention whore with a stupid Easter Island-lookin face. - from who else? DaneykoIsGod!

Even when Marty comes back maybe Larry should put Clemmensen to be on the goal during the shootouts.Can the coach do that ? Switch the goalies 5 seconds to go in overtime? - Most priceless quote ever posted on a message board.

Martin Brodeur: THE MOST ALL-TIME WINS!, 12 straight seasons of 30+ wins, 3 Stanley Cups, 4 Vezina Trophies, and zero respect from too many so-called Devils "fans" who are either too young or too bandwagon to remember the much darker days of Sean Burke, Craig Billington, Bob Sauve, Alain Chevrier, and the talented but overwhelmed Chico Resch, among many others.

It's easy to support a great player when he's playing at his very best. It takes a true fan to support that same player during those rare moments and stretches when he's not. Babe Ruth went 0-4 some games, and sometimes Wayne Gretzky was held pointless. There may be such a thing as greatness, but no such thing as absolute perfection every single night.

#30 FOREVER!

20 out of 1,946 njdevs.com members agree: CR1976 is the Most Knowledgable Poster of 2008! Victory is mine...oh yes, victory is mine!

What really threw a monkey wrench into everything was Zach getting hurt in '10-'11. That likely made Lou a bit more cautious, though the sides clearly did talk for a while before Zach signed his one-year deal. The funny thing is, with the start Zach had gotten off to last season (it was slow), some of the same people who are ripping Lou for not re-signing him probably would've been ripping him for bringing him back for big dollars without seeing if he was physically sound, or at least capable of performing like the old Zach. The timing was a bit of a mess.

Of course, the fact that Zajac was signed to an 8-year deal, despite playing just 15 regular-season games last season, kind of negates the above. I think a lot more happened behind the scenes than we'll ever know with Zach. And I think tampering happens quite a bit in the NHL, and probably happened in Zach's case, though I'm sure it will be difficult to impossible to prove.

I know more about knee injuries than I do about Achilles injuries, but it could be that a knee injury is more likely to he permanent.

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Yeah the main weird thing about Parise was that when he signed the one-year deal the previous year, he said "with the intention of signing a long-term deal" the next offseason. I honestly didn't believe at any point that he would leave the Devils. He's an interesting case, because he didn't even really sound like he wanted to leave the Devils, so much as he just really saw a lot of positives in both NJ and Minnesota. I don't blame that on Lou. I just think that if Lou had simply capitalized on the chance to sign Zach when he said he wanted to sign a long-term deal, and actually signed him to that instead of a one-year contract, he'd still be a Devil.

Well, it was with the intention of signed a mega deal. Lou was rumored to only be offering half the contract Zach ended up getting. His agents knew what he could get on the open market.

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Official NJDevs.com Keeper of Gory Corey Schwab, Mike Peluso, Troy Crowder, Jeff Frazee, and Rich Shulmistra."The Devils are that zombie that takes an ax to the skull, a bullet to the temple and is set on fire … and yet keeps lumbering along to the annoyance of all the other zombies." - Puck Daddy

wtv float ur boat guys... easy to say now but id be REALLY CURIOUS to know who would have picked zajac over Parise if we would have made a poll in the last few years.

I was a huge Parise fan. I raged with the way he left, as I'm sure most will recall. However, even if you polled me in July, if I could absolutely have only one or the other, I would've chosen Zajac. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find good 2-way centers? Guys who can center the first line, score, kill penalties, play the power play? They're insanely hard to find. After a shut-down #1 defenseman, there is no harder to find commodity in the NHL than a top 2-way center. When you find one, you don't let the guy go. Zach Parise will do well in Minnesota and we will miss him, no question- but losing Zajac would've been an absolute disaster. You can replace a Zach Parise MUCH easier than you can replace a Travis Zajac. That's a fact.